I think its great that Cairn exists as a way to adapt Into the Odd style mechanics into something compatible with folktale and dark forest inspired D&D adventures. Lately, I’ve been inspired by the Twisted Classics trend Liminal Horror where they are reimagining old D&D adventures to fit the setting of that game.
Because of this I was looking through my copy of Into the Odd: Remastered and pondering whether I could take the opposite approach of cairn and adapt classic D&D modules to better fit Into the Odds’ themes of “industrial horror and cosmic strangeness” set in an early-to-mid 1800s urban locale. However, I am coming up a bit short for inspirational materials so I wanted to see if anyone had some recommendations for books, art, or movies along these lines.
I plan on following up on this post to include some of my own recommendations once I have had a bit more time to research and compile them.
the general time period is very juicy, and yet, there is something about into the odd, as a game, as written, that is weirdly limiting. I find that true about all of chris’s work. somehow, he steps into the world just a hair too far, and this keeps his games from having a lot of adventure/scenario/splat book support like I think it should. like, the game rules are just too personal for people to want to add to the corpus.
THAT SAID: I think into the odd supports Weird literature quite well. its a great place to start. like, I just read this short story, The Red Tower, by ligotti and it feels like 100% on target for into the odd.
I would also add my "clown eggs" link down there as a fun lil inspiration point.
but yea, in general, GOTHIC, ROMANTIC, WEIRD is where I look. maybe a little bit of the long 18th century in there. so say, starting with Cyrano de Bergerac and ending in Lovecraft.
I would also look to my “czech animation” post because that is all firmly in this genre (rooted in surrealism, which is rooted in weird).
anyway, yea, i am currently writing a sorta 18th/19th century adventure, so I am fully immersed in this world right now…
oh and, speaking of things I have been posting, “the red Shoes” ballet sequence is also super INTO THE ODD appropriate. also all german expressionist film is!
One book series that might work really well as Into the Odd inspiration is the Western Lights series by Jeffrey Barlough. It’s basically weird fiction and ghost stories combined with Dickens.
This is really cool! I’ve got a couple things now, and I can add more later.
First, paintings! I really like Edward Hopper and Jeff Lee Johnson. Edward Hopper’s stuff feel a little empty (in the best way) and very profound, for lack of a better word, which all feels like ItO. And with Jeff Lee Johnson’s work, I’m not inspired by everything he does, but there are a couple paintings of his that I really like.
Other than that, I feel like I’ve read a lot of books with similar vibes, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is The Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen. It’s a mystery set in 1940s New York, and while it’s not horror in any way, it’s just very strange.
While, kinda clunky as a modern reader, I think the play R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots) could be interesting to pull from. It’s kind of like a proto-biopunk apocalypse from the '20s. It’s very weird, and I think good fodder for an adventure.
In that line of thinking, I think a lot of classic / older SF would be great inspiration! I’ll list some short stories here that I’ve enjoyed and think fit the vibe:
Sultana’s Dream (Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, 1905)
The Comet (WEB DuBois, 1920)
Reason (Isaac Asimov, 1940)
That Only a Mother (Judith Merril, 1949)
The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet (Vandana Singh, 2008)*
Wow that takes me back! I was once in an (admittedly not very good) production of that play in college. I would’ve never thought to pull that for inspiration.
this is rad! I didn’t know there was a film! I can admit that in my brainhaze I was actually thinking more of Electric Bastionland, but I think it may adapt well.
As much as I love to hate on Sanderson, Mistborn/Final Empire would probably work really well as a gazetteer for an ItO campaign. Some Regency era aristocracy vibes mixed with limited magic and off-fantasy races. Factions and geopolitics are built-in as is the geography. Bonus points if you like to tinker: you can build out mechanics for allomancy and feruchemy.
I would recommend the Magical Industrial Revolution setting book by Skerples. Into the Odd is listed in the bibliography.
The tone is more reckless optimism but this can be tweaked to suit your version of Bastion. Also, there is a heavy dose of mad wizards and crazy inventions that can push a bit beyond what Into the Odd loosely prescribes. The good stuff lies within the fantastic tables that, IMO, align well with the desired period setting. You will find inspiration for all manner of industrial city life, structure, food, crime, punishment, and even jokes. There is a section on converting classic fantasy races into a more varied collection of human cultures. Near the end of the book Skerples lists a whole page of media inspirations. Also, the art is a real treat. Among all the tables and content there are many full page illustrations depicting various scenes though out the city with a heavy focus on the vast number of people who live there.
I feel this book alone could get 90% of the work done reskinning classic D&D modules to fit Into the Odd’s industrial setting. Just make things more weird and sprinkle on the cosmic horror from your favorite sources. Have fun!
I’ve been wanting to run Andrew Kolb’s Oz with either Into the Odd or more likely Electric Bastionland.
I think it would fit well as a smaller city somewhere out in Deep Country, maybe a rising (or declining) rival city to Bastion.